Related Stories

VIA Metropolitan Transit board members endorsed the city's plan Tuesday to build a streetcar route that travels north and east through downtown, setting the stage for a City Council vote Thursday.

“We're very comfortable with moving forward in this direction,” VIA President and CEO Keith Parker said before the board unanimously approved the plan, which includes a pledge to enter into an interlocal agreement with the city and Bexar County, another funding partner.

VIA's endorsement ended two years of planning and more than two months of questions over the funding mix for a streetcar system and location of the first line.

Negotiations were further complicated weeks ago, when Mayor Julián Castro and city staff introduced their plan for the north-east streetcar line, a route they said will foster more economic development than an east-west downtown route that VIA originally proposed.

On Tuesday, following a presentation by Deputy City Manager Pat DiGiovanni, VIA's head of strategic planning Brian Buchanan said the new proposal complements the agency's long-range transit plans, but he emphasized the city's willingness to refine the exact route.

The city wants the route to loop around the Pearl Brewery. VIA would prefer the line stay on Broadway, which would make it easier to extend in the future. Farther south, the city plan calls for rail tracks only on Losoya Street. VIA recommends the tracks split and run on Losoya and Alamo.

VIA still plans to build a second streetcar line that completes its proposed starter system, which would mean routes that run west and south.

“I think they (the city) are open to some alignment discussions,” Buchanan said.

The public discussion over whether to bring urban rail to San Antonio began when VIA created an advisory streetcar commission and launched the SmartWaySA program, which includes a bus rapid transit line planned along Fredericksburg Road.

VIA has called San Antonio the largest metropolitan area in the United States without urban rail.

Bexar County has committed $55 million of advanced transportation district funds to VIA's $180 million plan, which includes a $100 million streetcar line. VIA would contribute $70 million.

Under the city's proposed plan, VIA would get the remaining $55 million, but only $40 million will come from the city. The remaining $15 million would be generated from a special assessment district, funded by area property owners.

The city has considered combining a streetcar district with an existing downtown public-improvement district, DiGiovanni recently said.

The city's support for a streetcar system is contingent on the assessment district and development of the interlocal agreement.

The VIA board went into a closed executive session Tuesday to discuss terms of the agreement. It did not reveal conditions for the pact in the public meeting.

“We're talking about contractual provisions,” VIA's General Counsel Bonnie Elder said. “We certainly wouldn't want to do that in open session.”

She said staff will draft the agreement and bring the document back for board approval.

What was quite clear Tuesday was the feeling that VIA finally was bringing a streetcar system to reality. Parker, applauding the city and VIA staff, said in the past, people may have thought a streetcar system in San Antonio was half-baked.